There are no Teesside bands appearing at Glastonbury this year - but does that really matter?

Every year, the UK’s flagship festival and other major events invite up and coming bands to play on the BBC Introducing Stage - which is seen as a launching pad to national success.

There’s no Tees bands playing that stage at Glastonbury - with the event dominated by London based groups over recent years.

It’s led to one prominent Teesside musician to claim a bias against the region, but with the local scene booming, is that the case?

What are the stats?

Kingsley Chapman, whose band Chapman Family were the last from Teesside to play at Glastonbury’s Intro stage in 2008, crunched the numbers and uncovered what he called a “MASSIVE London bias” finding that at least 30 London based artists had played since 2009.

(Image: Evening Gazette)

“We’re not being totally ignored, but Glastonbury is the jewel in the festival crown and its odd that we’re totally overlooked for it every single year,” said Kingsley, whose latest band Kingsley Chapman and the Murder played an emotional final gig at this year’s Stockton Calling festival.

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That we’re not being ignored is a message that Bob Fischer, who hosts the BBC Tees Introducing radio show championing new bands every week, wants heard loud and clear.

Since the Chapman Family and Dirty Weekend played at Glastonbury in 2008, he’s seen 12 other Tees bands play the Introducing stages at major festivals.

And he says Pip Mountjoy - from Richmond but still very much part of the BBC Tees patch - did play at Glastonbury in 2013, while Teesside born singer Zoe West appeared on the Leftfield Stage at the Somerset mega-event this year.

‘Healthier than it’s ever been’

How do you measure how well a music scene is performing?

According to Bob Fischer, you can look at the host of music venues - including the revamped Georgian Theatre, the Arc, Middlesbrough Town Hall and more - and the strong local festivals like Stockton Calling and Twisterella, as well as the quality and diversity of the local scene.

He said: “I think the local scene is healthier than it’s ever been.

“I first started going to gigs about 25 years ago, and it was run then by a very small, dedicated bunch of people but now you have loads of great venues to play at, loads of great promoters, and loads of great bands.

(Image: Evening Gazette)

“Things are thriving - and the most encouraging thing is how much creativity there is.

“I hear stuff from Teesside bands that I don’t necessarily hear elsewhere and that’s really encouraging, there are so many styles and genres represented.

“But conversely - is there actually a Teesside sound? I don’t think there is and maybe that’s a good thing.”

So why aren’t they playing at Glastonbury?

Bob’s not sure, but said: “I’ve never been aware of any kind of institutionalised bias towards Teesside or North-east bands.”

He pointed to the success of Teesside bands at other major festivals - including four last year - as proof, with Avalanche Party playing Leeds/Reading, George Boomsma at Latitude, Corey Bowen at T in the Park and the Ruth Lambert Trio at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival.

“That’s a record to be really proud of,” he says.

How do bands get on the Introducing stage?

Each region has a local BBC station which picks suitable new bands and artists to play at major festivals.

There’s still a good chance that local artists could play at other big festivals.

‘Household names’

One of those successful bands, who’ve become a household name with major national exposure in recent years, is Teesside’s Cattle and Cane.

Led by siblings Joe and Helen Hammill, Cattle &amp; Cane’s sophomore album ‘Mirrors‘ was released in May.

Helen would “love to” play at Glastonbury as it has “such a good vibe, it’s a love fest. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?”

(Image: Evening Gazette)

Their manager Henry Carden, whose band DARTZ! were Teesside scene stalwarts in the late noughties, said that playing other, lesser known festivals can be “just as rewarding”.

“Whilst it would be nice if a few more Teesside bands played at Glastonbury, I think there’s so much to be positive about with regards to the local music scene at the moment, that it’d be unfair to focus on perhaps the one and only negative,” he said.

Local support can mean pressure

DARTZ!, the Chapman Family, and fellow Stockton band Young Rebel Set began to gain national exposure in 2008 - and while that’s welcome, it also brought added issues, says Henry, who also co-promotes the Twisterella multi-venue festival in Middlesbrough.

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“Although we received a lot of support locally, I think that support also manifested itself as pressure,” Henry said.

“People were so keen for us all to succeed that there was almost an unattainable expectation of just how ‘big’ the three of us could get. If you compare that to now, there’s so many brilliant bands doing exciting things and playing some of the biggest and best festivals around, even if sadly Glastonbury isn’t one of them, it’s definitely the healthiest the local scene has been for as long as I can remember.”

So why aren’t Teessiders playing the big one - are we overlooked?

Henry continued: “Some local bands have a bit of a chip on their shoulder and think that if you’re from Teesside, you get ignored, but that definitely isn’t the case.

(Image: Publicity picture)

“I can name at least three Teesside bands who’ve had major label interest in recent months and countless others have received national radio play, national press coverage and played big shows all over the country (and beyond), so that suggests a TS postcode definitely isn’t causing any damage.”

‘I wouldn’t be surprised if one year, there’s four of us playing’

Joe Bell, the bassist with Avalanche Party - described variously as “your new favourite Garage Rock band” and “frenzied, feral rockers” - is so confident in the scene, he can see a time when Teesside takes over Glastonbury.

“Glasto is the biggy and there is only so many slots, so of course there is gonna be competition,” he said.

Avalanche Party (pic Rory Sansom)

“But I can’t remember a Tees band playing it since The Chapman Family years ago. They were a mint band. But since then there has been some really good bands from our area that have covered many genres that could have played.

“Especially now as I think the scene is the strongest it’s been in years. I’m not too bothered though as our time will come. I won’t be surprised if one year there is four bands from Teesside playing.”

Teesside ‘overlooked compared to Leeds and Newcastle’

Kingsley Chapman, who recently hosted the Trashterpiece exhibition taking a closer look at Teesside’s modern culture, thinks that there could be southern confusion about what and where Teesside actually is - and that dismissing regional bias is “utter nonsense”.

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“I personally don’t see much in the acts that have been chosen over the last nine years to suggest our local artists were significantly worse or better so for me there must be something else at play,” said Kingsley.

“One problem may be a bit of Tyne-Tees confusion to southerners,” he continued, saying that as Newcastle’s version of the show is called ‘BBC Introducing in the North East’ - it “claims to be representing the entire North East - as last time I checked, we were supposed to be in it too”.

Something has shifted

The Chapman Family’s success - major label recording contracts, European festivals, NME features - came after their 2008 Glasto slot, but Kingsley thinks “something has definitely shifted now”.

“If we came out now in the same manner we did nearly ten years ago I don’t think we’d stand a chance of getting picked up - we were no where near as clean or polished as the bands and artists that are championed right now,” he said.

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“I honestly can’t pinpoint as to why Teesside continually gets overlooked. We have a vibrant and diverse music scene right now.”

Joe Bell from Avalanche Party also thinks Teesside is good enough: “It’s no secret that the “industry” goes delving into places like Leeds or Newcastle but it’s starting to change.

“They’re starting to realise that the ‘north’ extends to more than these places.

“Last year there were four bands from the North-east that played the BBC Intro stage at Reading &amp; Leeds and I can’t remember that happening before. It’s an exciting scene and finally people are cottoning onto that.”